Enable releases and versions

Releases represent points in time for your project. They can be used to schedule how features are rolled out to your customers, or as a way to organize work that has been completed for the project.

Enable releases and versions for your software project

1. Navigate to your team-managed or company-managed software project.

2. Go to Project Settings > Features.

3. Enable the Releases feature. 

A new menu item, Releases, will be added to the project menu.

The following changes will be made to your project when you enable the feature:

• A new field, Fix versions, will be added to your issue types.

• A new menu item, Releases, will be added to the left-hand project menu.

Create versions for your project

In Jira Software, each release is called a version. There are two ways to create versions in your project.

From the Releases page

1. Select Releases in the project menu on the left.

2. Select Create version. Give your version a name, eg 1.1.

From the Versions panel on the Backlog

1. On the Backlog, select the Version filter and enable the Versions panel toggle.

2. Select Backlog in the project menu on the left.

3. Select + Create version.

Assign versions to your issues

From the release page

1. Navigate to the release page for your version.

2. In the Issues section, select Add issues.

3. Select an issue, or enter text to search for one.

4. Select Add.

From the issue view

1. Open an issue.

2. Under the Fix versions field, select a version to add the issue to. You can select more than one version.

From the Versions panel

1. On the Backlog, select the Version filter and enable the Versions panel toggle.

2. Navigate to the Backlog

3. Open the Versions panel.

4. Drag an issue to the version you want to add it to.

Add other work related to your version

Add related work to your version so team members and stakeholders can easily find it. This can include things like release notes, analytics dashboards, designs, support documentation, and more.

To add related work to your version:

1. From your project’s sidebar, select Releases and go to your version.

2. Select Add… in the Related work section.

3. Enter the URL for the related work, a description, or both.

4. Choose a category and select Save.

Once you’ve added related work, select the menu icon () on the right-hand side of an item and go to Edit to update it, or Remove to delete it.

If your related work items are not ready yet, you can create a placeholder and add the URL later when the work is available.

If you need someone to work on an item for your release, link an issue to the related work and assign it to them. To link a new issue, hover over the related work item and select Create issue, or select Link issue to link an existing issue.

Filter versions on the Board and Backlog

1. Navigate to your project's Board or Backlog.

2. In the Versions filter or panel, select one or more versions. Issues belonging to these versions will continue showing, while all other issues will be hidden.

Use JQL to do advanced searching using versions

You can use JQL to perform more powerful searches using versions.

1. Select Jira home in the top-left corner.

2. Select Filters > Search issues.

3. Select Switch to JQL.

4. In your JQL query, you can use the FixVersion operator to search for issues in a specific version. e.g. FixVersion = 1.1

Monitor the progress of your versions

The Releases page shows how much work has been completed in each version. It shows a summary and a breakdown of the issues in the version, grouped by status. If you have connected Jira Software to your development tools, the release page will show development information about pull requests, commits, builds, and deployments associated with your issues. The page also warns you if your development tools are out of sync with Jira Software — for example, completed issues with open pull requests, failing builds, or unreviewed code. To view the release page, go to your project and select Releases in the project menu, then select a version.